As many as 80% of women in the United States have fibroids. While the majority usually has no indication they have fibroids, 1 in 4 end up with symptoms severe enough to require treatment.

Obstrician/Gynecologist Mahnee Dinsmore any female's at risk for fibroids, but they do tend to run in families. So if your mother had fibroids then there's a strong chance you will have them as well. "Fibroids are now known to be a genetic change in a DNA molecule. They're actually a smooth muscle fiber that has now been mutated. A fibroid - usually if you have one fibroid you're going to have a bunch."

Dr. Dinsmore says that it's very rare that a uterine fibroid is cancerous, but it can happen. Symptoms that are evident usually depend on where the fibroid's located. "Fibroids generally show up, a lot of times with bleeding irregularities. Occasionally women will go, you know, God, my stomach is just getting so big and it's so hard and I know I'm not pregnant, you know, I'm 45 years old there's no way - but it turns out, it's fibroids."

Dr. Dinsmore also say that the most common way to detect fibroids with an annual exam, but even if they're present, they're not always a problem and don't always require treatment, but if they do there's numerous options available. "You can remove the fibroid or you can remove the entire uterus. However, removing the fibroid sometimes is beneficial but sometimes another fibroid then will start growing for you."

There are non-surgical treatments available as well, but they tend to take a lot longer to work. Talk with your doctor about what treatment is right for.

Fibroids are the most common, non-cancerous tumors in women of childbearing age.